Truck Rams Fox Newsroom; Driver Heard Yelling About ‘High Treason’

DALLAS (CBSDFW/CBSLA) – A news event came to the doors of a North Texas television station early Wednesday morning… literally.

It was just after 6:00 a.m. when the driver of a pickup truck, who CBS 11 News sources say is Michael Chadwick Fry, repeatedly smashed the vehicle into the FOX4 News building in downtown Dallas, at the corner of Griffin Street and San Jacinto.

Dallas police Senior Corporal Debra Webb said, “Shortly after it came out as a crash it got upgraded to major disturbance when it was determined that the vehicle involved with the crash was actually intentionally ramming the building.”

Police said Fry was rambling and appeared to be in some sort of agitated mental state and was not making any sense.

DPD Major Max Geron said Fry had “mental issues” and had indicated to them that “people were trying to kill him.”

Fry was apparently upset about a deputy-involved shooting in Denton County in 2012. During that incident deputies shot and killed a driver that rammed a squad car. Fry was a passenger in the suspect car.

The suspect was also seen throwing papers while yelling the words “high treason”, according to FOX4 reporter Brandon Todd.

Huge windows could be seen shattered and broken completely out as the truck sat against the glass, with the front end crumpled.

It was after the crash when Fry jumped out of the truck and began yelling and throwing papers that he removed from a bag and several boxes. Boxes and papers from the bed of the truck were scattered along the front of the building.

A man crashed a truck into the side of our building this morning. He jumped out and started ranting. He’s in custody now but the bomb squad is on its way. He left behind a suspicious bag. Most have been evacuated & a few are working to keep the news on air from a secure location. pic.twitter.com/X3UpLbYk85

Those papers that Fry also tried to show to FOX 4 employees were documents and printed out news stories related to the 2012 shooting in Denton County.

KDFW anchor and reporter Brandon Todd, who witnessed Fry pacing outside the station before he was arrested, said the man was yelling about “high treason,” and that he believed he had clearly been wronged and that someone was trying to kill him.

Fry never entered the building, and reportedly started crying after police handcuffed and arrested him.

Webb said, “When the officers arrived out here on the scene they came in contact with the suspect, he immediately laid down on the ground and surrendered to the officers. They got him into custody without any incident.”

The Dallas police bomb squad was called in. “When he [suspect] did come out of his vehicle, after ramming the building, he pulled a bag out of his vehicle so we had our EOD, our bomb unit, come out here just as a precaution to check that and make sure that it wasn’t anything dangerous,” Webb said. “The bag was cleared.”

Most of the journalists and workers in the newsroom were evacuated from the building. News anchors, in the middle of a newscast, were in a studio on the opposite side of the building and said they heard nothing.

Several streets in the area were closed as police investigated, affecting morning rush hour traffic and DART lines.